Kerala's Jihadi youth killed in Syria

Shameer migrated to Syria in 2015 with his wife and children. (Photo for representation)

Even as more and more Islamic State posts continue to fall in Syria, more deaths are being reported from IS war zones. According to intelligence sources, 43-year-old PV Shameer, son of Musthafa from Kannur, has reportedly been killed in Syria while "fighting for the ISIS".

Shameer, who was running a furniture shop in Kannur, was a local leader of the Popular Front of India and had migrated to Syria in 2015 with his wife Fausia and two sons and daughter.

Shameer had taken his family with him to Saudi Arabia on the pretext that "his son Salman wanted to pursue Islamic studies in Saudi Arabia". During Operation Pigeon, Kerala intelligence officials found that he was in Syria and was involved in ISIS activities.

His family came to know about his death a week ago and informed the police. The Kerala police has unearthed that around 54 men joined ISIS ranks from the state since 2014 with 13 persons being reported as killed in Syria and Afghanistan.

Shameer was a semi-literate man who had studied only till class 8. He had subsequently gotten involved with the National Development Front, an earlier version of the PFI.

He had married Fausia and the couple had three children - 20-year-old Salman, 16-year-old Safwan and 12-year-old Sajitha.

In 2015, in the run up to his moving to Saudi Arabia, he had told his relatives in Kerala that his son Salman had got admission in Madeena University in Saudi Arabia for a degree course and that he had also managed to secure employment there. Shameer and his family left Kerala in December 2015.

Shameer's family has been listed among the missing families in Kerala by the Intelligence wing. Their whereabouts continue to be unknown. Shameer had last contacted his brother Rahim on July 5, 2016, from Saudi Arabia from the number 00 966582056104.

Intelligence agencies and NIA have intensified alerts against the persons with IS links in Kerala after 10 others, who were radicalized, vanished from the state.

REVELATIONS OF A KERALA YOUTH WHO WENT FOR JIHAD IN SYRIA

A detailed statement given by 34-year-old Abdul Razak who had gone to Syria for Jihad and was arrested by the Turkish police while crossing Syrian border revealed how youngsters from Kerala are lured into the Islamic State fold. Abdul Razak, another semi-literate, was arrested along with VK Shahjahan, another youth from Kannur on May 17, 2017. Both were deported to India on July 1 last.

On arrival, both Shahjahan and Abdul Razak were arreted by the NIA. While Razak was released after interrogation, Shahjahan continues to be in NIA custody. Razak reached home in Kannur on July 17.

Intelligence official met him and recorded his statement. His statement revealed that a radical network operating in the state is luring the youth by offering them jobs in Europe and trafficking them to IS territories. This is the first time that human trafficking has been linked to IS module in the state.

Read Razak's statement to the NIA:I've been living in Coimbatore with family for the last 34 years. I'd studied up to class 6 and was helping my father who was running a shop in Coimbatore. I married Afsath, a native of Kolachery in Kannur in 2007. We have three kids. I built a house in Palliyath in 2012. Since then my family lives there. I applied for a passport in 2014 and went to Qatar on a visitor's visa arranged by my relative Yusuf and worked as a domestic help with an Arab family for six months.

I returned home in 2015 and set up a mini supermarket in Palliyath in Kannur with my brother-in-law. I met Abdul Khayeem, a native of Motta, in Kannur, who worked as a newspaper agent for Thejus newspaper, the mouthpiece of Popular Front of India. He influenced me to subscribe to the newspaper at my home and supermarket. I didn't pay for the newspaper subscription. I'd earlier attended Empower India Conference in Bangalore organised jointly by National Development Front in Kerala, Forum for Dignity in Karnataka and Manitha Neethi Pasare in Tamil Nadu in 2007.

I became close to Abdul Khayeem as my leanings were towards political ideology supported by PFI. In 2016, I had a rift with my brother-in-law and decided to sell my shop.

In February 2017, I started another super market in Kattampally area in Kannur. Meanwhile, Abdul Khayeem told me that he was planning to go to Europe for employment and offered me his assistance in getting a job there. I was tempted by his offer and paid Rs 2,42,000 for the visa. I sold my shop, some gold ornaments and scooter and raised the required amount. We had applied for a visitor's visa for UAE on April 8, 2017, by paying Rs 8,000 each from Akbar Travels, Kannur, and purchased a ticket for Sharjah for Rs 9,000. We left for Sharjah on April 18 last from Karippur airport, Kozhikode. We took a room at the Sun Rise Hotel in Sharjah for three days. On April 19 we applied for an Iranian Visa at the embassy and received the visa the next day and purchased a ticket for Tehran.

On April 21, Abdul Khayeem disclosed that he was going to Syria from Tehran and asked me to accompany him. I was not ready to go with him to Syria as I was scared. Then he reassured me that he would arrange a visa to Greece from Turkey. I decided to go with him as I had no choice. We left Sharjah for Tehran on April 21 and reached there around 6 pm. In Tehran, we met V.K. Shajahan, a native of Kanjirod in Kannur. He arranged a room in Hotel Himmat and we stayed there for three days. Abdul Khayeem changed his name to Khalid and Shahjahan as Howvad and asked me to address them only in their fake names. Shahjahan also introduced us to Mustafa, a Turkish national, during our stay at the hotel. On April 22, a car picked us up from the hotel and dropped us off at Thabris on the Iran-Turkey border on April 23. We were accommodated in a house where 30 persons were living. We stayed there for four days.

On April 27, a tempo picked us up from the shelter and took us to another house. It took us four hours to reach our new shelter. Later another car took us to another destination. We were forced to walk for around 10 hours to reach another place. From there, another hour-long tempo traveller ride later we were dropped at a remote place. There we met a Turkish smuggler Ali Mack and we took a SIM card from him in exchange for some money and stayed there for three days. From there we went to Istanbul by bus. We stayed for nine days in Istanbul.

During our stay there, we met a Russian and our names changed again. Shahjahan changed his name to Unis and my name was changed to Azeez Rahid. We also received refugee cards in the same names. On our way to the Syrian border, we were detained by the police and were released after they verified our refugee cards. Towards evening, we reached a forest and could hear noises of cross-firing in the distance. Abdul Khayeem vanished from our group there. We found a hiding place in the forest and stayed there for a day. On May 17, the Turkish police arrested our group and jailed us for 45 days. We reached New Delhi on July 1 and were arrested by the NIA. I was interrogated by the NIA and released after which I reached home on July 17.